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Senior Controls Engineer (PAT)

Impulse· Autonomous Systems
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Redondo Beach, CA$150k - $180kFull-timePosted 4mo ago

About the role

Senior engineer responsible for leading the pointing and tracking subsystem design for the FSO laser communication terminal, blending optics, sensors, and control theory with software and hardware development. On-site role collaborating with optical, photonics, and modem teams.

Responsibilities

  • Own the end-to-end pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) architecture for the FSO system to achieve sub-µrad pointing stability; develop pointing budgets that account for spacecraft attitude dynamics, thermal drift, and atmospheric disturbance, and allocate error to subsystems.
  • Design and implement algorithms to rapidly acquire transmitter and maintain lock.
  • Develop the control loops for fast steering mirrors (FSM) or precision actuators to actively suppress jitter and beam wander. Tune controllers to mitigate disturbances and minimize pointing error.
  • Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) Testing: Build a testbed to validate PAT performance, including hardware-in-loop simulations.
  • Rapidly prototype algorithms and simulations to flesh out design
  • Support troubleshooting and iteration during optical alignment sessions and system tests.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s or Master’s in Aerospace Engineering, Controls/Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics or similar field.
  • 5+ years of experience working on pointing, tracking, or guidance/control systems (such as satellite attitude control, gimbal systems, or optical tracking systems).
  • Strong foundation in control theory and signal processing. Experience designing and tuning feedback control loops for high-precision systems.
  • Knowledge of sensor fusion and state estimation.
  • Understanding of optical pointing mechanisms, pointing errors, and jitter spectra.
  • Experience with gimbals, fast steering mirrors, precision opto-mechanical actuators or similar hardware.
  • Proficiency in programming for algorithm development and real-time implementation.
  • Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot complex hardware/software systems in a lab or field environment.

Skills

Required:Pointing, Acquisition, and Tracking (PAT) architectureControl theory and signal processingHardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) testing

Benefits

  • long-term incentives in the form of stock options
  • medical, vision & dental coverage
  • access to a 401(k) retirement plan
Last updated Jul 30, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Impulse

Accelerating our future beyond Earth

Accelerating our future beyond Earth

spacevehiclesmobilitypayloads
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